March Night
by Lieu Of Flowers
Summary: Circa 1980, during Voldemort's first reign. Snapshots of the marauders' lives. Very vague hints of an R/S relationship.
1. I

**March Night**

**I. Smooth as a thousand silver daggers**

_i _

The mask is terrifying for something so plain. Blank. Slits for eyes.

_Eyes which are everywhere._

He turns it over in his hands, marvelling at how the smoothness of the surface can send chills into his body like a woman's desperate screams.

"_Peter! They're here! They're--OH MY GOD!"_

(There's a sick sort of pleasure in his stomach as the girl who was so nice, who once tutored him at potions twists and screams at his feet.)

_Marlene McKinnon's dead, Peter. Her whole family. Someone leaked information. Someone's a traitor._

The mask stares up at him, like death.

_(I offer my allegiance to you, My Lord.)_

When he puts it on, he's someone else. He's not Peter, not Wormtail. Not a Marauder.

He's powerful, now. This time, he's the one with a secret. This time, it's all in his hands.

_ii_

"No one's seen Remus for a week."

_Silence._ The unspoken lingers in the tense air. _Someone's a traitor._

"He did--it's just--well, it's full moon tonight."

Lily hmms softly and James bites his lip and Sirius looks away.

_Weaklings. _"It's just… that--well, that. Y'know."

Sirius looks up and for a second, Peter's watery eyes lock with ice blue. Something clicks.

"You don't know that. _We_ don't know that. None of us knows who it is and--and. He's," _He can't say the name. "_He's probably on a...mission."

Peter shrinks, Lily hmms again and James stands abruptly and walks out of the room. They all watch him go.

_Someone's a traitor._


	2. II

**I booked you a ticket, but you weren't there**

_iii_

Glassy eyes stare into his, and Remus wants to throw up.

_You didn't do it. You didn't stop it._

He couldn't stop it. There's a trail of blood that trickles into the little girl's mouth, which is open in a silent scream for help.

The werewolves who did this are gone now, but Remus is still here, and he doesn't know why.

_Howls and screams, the tuneless music of a warm March night._

She had a basket of flowers. They're scattered around her like Remus's world, torn, shattered, broken.

He dimly registers that Padfoot was meant to be there last night, to help him.

_That's his heart, not the flowers. Moony's gone feral. Monster._

_iv_

**III. Amber and Ice**

_v_

When Sirius opens the door to the tiny apartment they share, the first thing he sees is Remus sitting at the battered oak table, staring at something Sirius can't see. Remus glances up, and then down, focusing instead on a deep scratch that goes almost the length of the table.

_(A man with oily hair and a hooked nose strides angrily out of a dingy little shop, pocketing a handful of coins. The shopkeeper watches him go, then turns to look at the old table behind him. There's a scratch on the surface, it was only worth a tuppence. That Snape fellow must have wanted to get rid of it badly.)_

"There's some bread on the counter. I didn't cook."

Sirius is sick of Remus talking to the floor, but Sirius talks to the walls behind Remus so it makes no difference.

"I thought we could talk tonight. We…haven't talked much lately."

For a second, amber meets ice, then amber looks away.

"Whatever you want."


	3. III

**IV. Sunstorm**

_vi_

It's been a day since Sirius walked out, since the door slammed shut, the loudest thing in the flat since their first Christmas as adults.

_(Have some mead, Moony! Ishgood stuff! _

_Maybe just one._

_Oi! Mistletoe, you two!_

_Oh, Merlin no. Not now._

_Be a sport, Moony! Come on!)_

It's been a while since awkward, stilted conversation could turn into loud, angry shouting, and the last time that happened, Remus didn't talk for a week and Sirius cried himself to sleep every night, but only Peter knew that.

It's been a while since he's bitten his lip till it bled. He hasn't done that since he was thirteen and James shoved a moon chart in his face, all boyish humour and knowing grins.

It's been a while since Remus has cried. When his dad died, it was all soft words and small tears and his mother's comforting embraces. All flowers and black robes and rainy days. But now, in his own world of perfect irony it's all harsh thoughts and blood, and the sun shines brightly.


	4. IV

**IV. Faith is always hard to find**

_vi_

Sirius is walking fast, angry strides, away from home, away from any sort of comfort. Away from Remus. He doesn't want his motorbike, he can't stand to look at it because it brings back memories that are far too happy.

Too inappropriate.

_If_, and it breaks him to think it, _if Remus is the traitor, he knows too much already._ Sirius shoves his hands into his pockets, but the shiver that runs down his spine has nothing to do with the sudden drop in temperature. Even so, he wishes he had a scarf.

The sky gets steadily darker as Sirius marches on, trying to marshal his thoughts. _It might not even be Remus. It could be someone else. Anyone else._

_Still…_

_Still, _Sirius thinks, trying to justify his sudden decision, _still, time for a change of plan. _He knows it's too dangerous, James and Lily are in worse danger than ever, Voldemort probably already knows about him.

_Godric's Hollow, _he thinks. He turns on the spot, and disappears.

_vii_

Lily watches through the upstairs window as James waves Sirius off at the door. It's a good idea, she thinks, but it's dangerous too, wrought with complications. She's not sure how Dumbledore will react if they tell him, but she knows James won't. The less people know the better.

She thinks of Remus sadly, forcing herself to believe they are right in not telling him. Then she thinks of Peter, little Peter. Their baby's life now in his hands.

_(He's wonderful, congratulations._

_Here, Peter. Want to hold him?_

_Oh…alright, then._

_Here, hold your arms like this…that's right._

_Harry gurgles happily and grasps Wormtail's thumb.)_

James has an odd look on his face when he comes back inside. He goes straight to Harry's cot and stares into it, his face unreadable. Then he turns to Lily.

"We're doing the right thing."

Lily nods, and wishes for sunshine.

Et fin. Please review!


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